Aus Casinos

Australia's casino industry operates in a complex regulatory environment that has shaped how both land-based and online gambling function across the country. The market continues to evolve as regulatory pressures mount against land-based operators while offshore gambling platforms capture an increasingly significant share of player spending.

Overview of Australian Casinos

Land-Based Casinos

Australia's land-based casino sector has faced considerable headwinds in recent years. Major casinos including Crown Melbourne, Crown Sydney, and The Star Sydney operate across the country's major cities. However, the sector has experienced declining revenues as regulations tighten and players migrate toward online platforms.

Casino gambling specifically declined by 29 percent during the period from 2018–19 to 2019–20, reflecting broader challenges facing brick-and-mortar operations. Furthermore, Victoria's Casino Control Regulations 2023 introduced additional consumer protection measures, though these also increased operational costs for casino operators. The regulatory burden has created concerns among industry experts that excessive restrictions could further erode the viability of land-based casinos.

Online Casinos and the Offshore Reality

The Australian online gambling landscape is dominated by offshore operators due to restrictive domestic regulations. The legal framework in Australia prohibits online casino games and online poker, restricting licensed online gambling to sports betting and lottery products only.

This regulatory gap has created massive opportunities for offshore operators. The illegal offshore gambling market has grown substantially—doubling to AU$3.9 billion (US$2.53 billion) since 2019 and projected to reach AU$5 billion (US$3.24 billion) by 2029. In 2025, 36 percent of all online gambling activity in Australia is conducted offshore, with a quarter of this involving products that are unavailable legally such as online casino and live in-play betting.

Legal Landscape

The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 established the foundational framework for online gambling in Australia, permitting licensed operators to offer sports betting and lottery services. However, this legislation predates modern online casino offerings and has not been comprehensively updated to permit online casino or poker operations.

In August 2024, the Australian government implemented a credit card ban for online gambling, aiming to mitigate financial risks associated with gambling debts and reflect growing regulatory focus on consumer protection and responsible gambling practices. This measure represents the government's balancing act between industry expansion and public health safeguarding.

Market Size and Growth Projections

The overall Australian gambling market is positioned within a strong global context. The global gambling market is expected to reach $477.30 billion in 2025, with an annual growth rate of 3.28 percent projected between 2025 and 2029, hitting $543.10 billion by 2029. The casino and casino games sector alone is set to generate $245.40 billion in 2025 globally, with the United States leading at $121.30 billion.

Within Australia specifically, total gambling revenue is projected to reach US$15.88 billion in 2025, with an expected annual growth rate of 2.09 percent through 2030.

The Offshore Gambling Crisis

Scale of Illegal Offshore Activity

The offshore gambling problem represents the most significant challenge facing Australia's regulated casino and gambling industry. Research conducted by H2 Gambling Capital for Responsible Wagering Australia reveals the extent of the issue:

The offshore market has grown from approximately AU$2 billion in 2019 to AU$3.9 billion in 2025—more than doubling in six years. This market is projected to continue expanding to AU$5 billion by 2029.

Revenue Loss and Government Impact

The growth of offshore gambling directly impacts government revenues. Responsible Wagering Australia estimates that governments will miss out on almost AU$2 billion (US$1.30 billion) in revenue over the next five years due to offshore operators, with annual losses reaching AU$585 million (US$377 million) by 2029. Breaking this down further, the projections include AU$135 million stripped from racing annually and AU$40 million from sports annually.

Consumer Protection Gaps

Players using offshore sites operate without access to critical safeguards available on regulated Australian platforms, including safer gambling tools and dedicated teams monitoring behavior in real time. The research reveals a troubling statistic: 50 percent of Australians gambling on offshore sites have done so while registered on the government's self-exclusion tool BetStop, which significantly undermines the effectiveness of this harm prevention mechanism.

Why Players Choose Offshore Platforms

Research indicates that the ability to place live in-play bets—currently only available via phone call-in features on licensed Australian sportsbooks—was the most influential factor for consumers in choosing offshore sites, alongside better odds and bonuses. Additionally, offshore sites offer online casino and poker products that are completely unavailable through legal Australian operators, creating demand that domestic regulations cannot satisfy.

Participation and Risk Trends

Overall Participation Rates

Overall gambling participation in the Australian population has been declining. The participation rate stood at 58.8 percent in 2025, continuing a long-term downward trend from 65.6 percent in 2019 (pre-COVID-19). In 2022, 72.8 percent of Australian adults had gambled within the previous 12 months, with higher rates among men (80.5 percent) compared to women (66.2 percent).

Rising Risky Gambling

While overall participation is declining, a concerning trend has emerged regarding problem gambling. The proportion of Australians gambling at risky levels increased from 11.6 percent in 2023 to 13.7 percent in 2024 and jumped to 19.4 percent in 2025—nearly doubling since the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020–2021. This means almost 1 in 5 Australian adults gambled at risky levels in the past 12 months as of 2025.

Regulatory Environment and Future Outlook

The Australian casino and gambling industry faces a challenging regulatory trajectory. While regulations like Victoria's Casino Control Regulations 2023 strengthen consumer protections, they simultaneously increase the financial burden on operators and drive additional complexity to compliance.

Industry experts warn that excessive regulation could accelerate the migration of players toward offshore or illegal markets, which operate without consumer safeguards. The current situation presents a policy paradox: stricter regulations aimed at protecting consumers are inadvertently pushing players toward completely unregulated platforms controlled by organized criminal networks, which offer no protection whatsoever.

The wider gambling industry is preparing for continued disruption, with growing doubts about the long-term viability of traditional land-based casinos in Australia's increasingly restrictive regulatory environment.

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